The present invention relates to user interfaces for digital devices, and more specifically, to automatic detection of a user preference for an alternative user interface model.
Recently people have begun to interact with and utilize a wide variety of digital devices throughout their everyday lives. These digital devices include, but are not limited to, cellular phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), e-readers, tablet computers, netbooks, self-service kiosks, and the like. Each of these digital devices includes a user interface model which defines the way that the users interact with the device. Some digital devices may include more than one user interface model that the users are able to select between. Generally, a user interface model is a mapping or correlation of inputs received from a user interface to actions or activities on the digital device.
In general, people have their own mental models of how a digital device should react to various inputs from the user interface. For example, a user might envision pages of a virtual book on an electronic reader or tablet computer as organized from left-to-right. Such a user would likely expect to move to the next page by pushing or sliding the current page from right-to-left. However, other people might bring different mental models to the same devices. For example, another user might see the pages as organized from top-to-bottom, and expect a downward push or slide to lead to the next page. Such differences mean that many existing user interface models can be confusing or frustrating for at least a portion of the users of the digital device. Currently, the user can only overcome this conflict by adapting to the existing user interface model of the device or by changing the user interface model of the device to more closely align with the user's mental model.